Articles for author: Sarah Eskens

Regulating Social Media for Teenagers

Calls for social media age restrictions are growing in several EU Member States, aligning with broader discussions in Brussels about protecting consumers against ‘addictive’ online services. Recently, Australia approved a social media ban for those under 16, adding momentum to these debates. However, while such restrictions aim to protect children, defining ‘social media’ presents significant challenges that could make a ban ineffective or even counterproductive.

Regulating News Recommender Systems in Light of the Rule of Law

Many online services - search, e-commerce, movie streaming, social media, and news - use recommender systems. I argue that it is largely unnecessary and, in any case, contrary to the rule of law to regulate how news media deploy recommender systems to select and rank the news for individual users. Instead, I consider an alternative for state regulation of news recommenders, should empirical research show that certain news recommender systems have harmful effects on individual rights and societies.